PedalingWalrus

I am beyond hope

10 Wheels

You have to go very SLOW.

mdarnton

What are you doing now, step by step?

andrewclaus

Inflate the tube to put in in the tire, keep some air in the tube until you're on the last quarter of the last bead, then deflate it completely. Pinch the tire beads together around the rim to get them in the center of the rim where you have the smallest rim diameter, and you probably won't need tools.

Pinching the beads together as you remove the tire may negate the need for tools during removal as well. If your tires are hard to remove and install, consider a thinner rim strip or tape.

I never need tools to change tires on my bikes. Once in a while I find a bike where tools are needed. If it's too tight for a single plastic lever, use two plastic levers a few inches apart, pry at the same time.

mack_turtle

if you are puncturing tubes while installing them, you are doing something very wrong. can you post a link to a video that shows the technique you are using?

alo

How easy the tire goes on to the rim may have something to do with it.

When tires go on easily, you are very unlikely to pinch the tube.

I have one bike with narrow rims, which seems to be designed for tubeless tires. It is very difficult to get tires on. With these rims you are more likely to pinch the tube.

CargoDane

You don't use metal tyre levers, do you?

daniell

https://www.amazon.com/VAR-Nylon-Tir...ustomerReviews

ClydeClydeson

It is very common if using tools (ie tire levers or worse) to install tires. Learn to install tires without tools. It's finesse, not force, that will get the tires on without damaging anything.

MudPie

Do not use tire levers or any tools to install the tire - try to just use your hands. As mentioned above, it's not about strength and force, but technique. I've installed some pretty tight road tires (700x23) without tools, and I ain't considered strong. Also realize some tire / rim combinations could be harder to mount than others. For example, I find Continental Gatorskins to be very hard to mount but Specialized Armadillo Elite All Condition are much easier on the same rim. Regardless, I can install both without tools.

1. This video shows the trick of using the depression in the middle of your rim to your advantage. When approaching the last bit of unseated bead,pinch your tire into trough of your rim.:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wulx...ature=youtu.be

2. I like to start on the tire opposite the valve stem, and the last mounting section is the valve stem. And when I pinch my tire, I like to use both hands, start pinching and dragging my pinched fingers around the rim (each hand moving in opposite direction towards the valve stem. This ensure the entire bead is in the trough, giving you as much slack as possible, then attack the last bit with relative ease.

3. Also, it may help to warm up the tire (say in the sun) to make it more pliable.

freeranger

First thing I do is to put a little powder on the tube-this will allow it to "slide" inside the tire, instead of bunching up. Once the tube is in the tire, I'll inflate slightly to further ensure it doesn't ripple. Then carefully mount the tire, if I have to use a tire lever, being very careful not to pinch the tube. Can't remember the last time I've punctured a tube.

70sSanO

I’ve used one of these for years. Kool stop also makes a Tire Jack. Both of them work well.

The principle is to lift the tire over the rim edge so you don’t pinch the tube.

Some older skinny rims were tough to mount tires and now tubeless compatible rims have re-introduced the issue.

John

Shimagnolo

^This.

PedalingWalrus

I find it extremely unlikely to comprehend not using levers although I would love to ditch them

yes I try to push the bead to the middle, yes I know that warmer tire is more pliable...seems lately I pinch much more often because “it is in my head”, even the same tires or wheels that I have done before.

ARider2

I assume you are trying to reuse the same tube when you swap tires. In this case when removing the tube you must be extra careful not to pinch the tube with the tire levers when you detach the tire bead from the rim. Then when putting the other tires back on only use your hands when you reinstall the tube and tire. Never use your tire levers to put the tire back on or you risk pinching the tube.

If a tire is difficult to remount a tire jack can be used to get the last few inches of the tire to seat in the rim. There are very few cases where a tire jack may be needed. For 99 percent of the time just use your hands to install a tire and tube. If a tire jack is needed (some very tight tires on road bikes) then one must be very careful to make sure the tube is not caught between the tire bead and rim when using the tire jack as it will pinch the tube. Most tubes are damaged during a tire change when a tire lever pinches the tube, or when the tube slips between the tire bead and rim and is not noticed until the tire is inflated at which point a LOUD BANG ensues!

tyrion

Tubeless tires and rims make it much harder to install/remove tires without tools.

conspiratemus1

Yes, it should be a skills goal to not need tools of any kind to remount a tire. The techniques mentioned above should be followed to the letter and with patience, practice, and perseverance you should succeed. I will often use gloves to protect the heels of my office-worker hands while shoving the bead over the rim. It's not the last 3" that's the hardest, it's the segment from about 8" to 3" that's the hardest. The last bit usually just snaps on, pulled over I guess by the tension of the bead that's already on.

However, if you absolutely must use a tire lever, here is the trick my wife learned at a women's racing course many years ago:
Once you have all but 5-6" or so of bead on, where it starts to get too hard for your hands to push, stand the wheel on the ground with the unmounted bead lowermost. Lean it against something, like a friend, to prevent it toppling over. Keep the tube inflated just enough to stay round (to keep it away from the bead of the rim and the tire lever, which you are going to stick into the tire now.)
With your dominant hand, ease the tire lever vertically into the gap between the tire bead and the rim bead, just far enough into the cavity of the tire to engage the rim bead, and no further. Steady the heel of your hand against the rim, to control the depth better. From your vantage point looking down into the tire you can see that the tube is not going to be pinched by the tire lever when you lever it next.
With your other hand, push the tire bead inward as far as you can so the the lever has maximum mechanical advantage against the bead. (The bead of the rim is the fulcrum.) Hold the bead against the tire lever with your thumb so it doesn't slip. Recheck the depth that the lever is stuck into the tire cavity after making these adjustments.

Carefully apply downward pressure on the handle of the tire lever. Watch as you do this to ensure that, as it presses the tire bead downward toward the ground (which is really up onto the rim bead, since we are doing this upside down, the better to see into the tire), the tip of the lever is not trapping the tube as the tip moves upward toward the rim valley.. Under direct vision you can verify that the slightly inflated tube is retracting itself out of the way and the tip of the lever is moving away from the round tube, not toward it. If the tip pops out when you lever, insert it a couple of millimetres farther next try. Don't ever plunge it deep into the tire cavity.

Continue the single stroke of the lever until the tire bead snaps on. You might need to lift the wheel off the ground to get clearance to complete the stroke. This is OK because if you've done this right up to this point, the die is cast: you can't pinch the tube even though you can no longer see into the tire cavity. You might find that the section directly under the lever gets on while segments on either side have not climbed onto the rim. If the bead has not ejected the tire lever, leave it there and use your hands to encourage the other two segments to snap over. If the lever has popped out, with any luck the bead will stay on while you push on the adjoining segments. As I mentioned above, these short sections usually go on easily -- it's the longer bit that's hard.

Because with this method you don't deflate the tube during the last push, it's unlikely that there will be a segment trapped under the tire bead. No matter. Go around the entire circumference of the tire, starting and ending where you levered the bead on, pinching the sidewalls together to make sure you can't see any tube showing outside the tire bead, just as you do with a lever-less mounting. If you do see any tube, get it relocated where it's supposed to be before inflating it. (That is a separate topic.)

Mrs. C. got pretty slick with this in her women's group. I'm not nearly as adept because I haven't had to do it often enough to get practice. But I can vouch that it works.

bikemike73 

In my experience mounting tires by hand usually does work...BUT...when it doesn't. I use a Kool Stop Tire Bead Jack, along with the thin tire levers

I also warm the tire in the sun or by a heat lamp.

Technique is very important.......but strength can go a long way

Good Luck and be patient.

ALL excellent advice from above !!!

Geepig

I have two cheap folders, bought at the same time, with 24 inch wheels. One has nice rubbery tires that slip easily over the rim, while the other has plastic-like ones that are a beach to get over the rim.

mack_turtle

there is nothing to comprehend. just do it. stop using your levers to install tires and work on your technique and strength or you will keep puncturing tubes. as a last resort, get one of the tools above that are designed specifically for installing tires, as conventional tire levers are primarily for removing them.

JohnDThompson 

It's best if you can wrestle the tire on without any tools, but not all tire/rim combinations allow this and not everybody has the grip strength required. When I worked in a bike shop, I prided myself on being able to mount tires without tools, but now that I'm old and have arthritis in both my hands I find it doesn't always work. That's where "assistive devices" like the aforementioned bead jacks from VAR, Kool Stop and others come in. They can lift the bead over the sidewall without pinching the inner tube.

davidad

Amazon.com: Kool Stop Tire Bead Jack: Sports & Outdoors

Shimagnolo

If you want to make changing bicycle tires seem super easy, just change a 17" tubeless sportbike tire once.
You will never complain about bicycle tire changes again.

Wanderer

I have never seen a bicycle tire I could not dismount, or mount, with my hands/fingers. And in the last 65 years, I have mounted, fixed, many. In just about every conceivable size.

JohnDThompson 

The absolute hardest tire I ever mounted was a 7" tire for the front wheel of my Dad's wheelchair. I had to put the tire in the clothes dryer to get it hot, wrestle one bead onto the rim, and then clamp the tire in a bench vise to pull the other bead in place. It's a miracle the tube survived.